I received a text message from a female family member on Wednesday stating how excited she was for both herself and my young daughter to see Kamala Harris be sworn in as the first female vice president. It now meant my daughter could aspire to be anything she wanted, up to and including the president, too. There is no shortage of news headlines proclaiming commensurate enthusiasm and messaging.
But is any of it warranted?
For starters, the claim that my daughter can now aspire to be anything falls short when one simple question is asked: Who did Kamala Harris use as a role model? If my daughter needs to see Harris, then who did Harris see? It doesn’t make sense.
Second, my daughter will be successful because she will be raised in a home that values morality, hard work, kindness, and will be given the love and support of both men and women in her immediate and extended families. Above all, if she does need a terrific female role model, she has her mother. There is simply no substitute for family.
Third, if young girls everywhere needed a role model like Harris to finally see the potential that was always within them, how do they explain all of the young white boys that have only ever seen themselves in office that never amount to much? Doesn’t this logic need to go both ways? I only need to identify one meth-addicted, prison-stinting bumpkin to make the point that white privilege doesn’t exist and that having a white man in office is no guarantor of individual future success. Who knows, maybe I am wrong and every black girl will now cure cancer in the next ten years.
Fourth, is biological sex a thing again? We are constantly told of a blurred line between men and women, but now when it’s convenient to distinguish a female first, we go all in. Had my daughter been born in New York City, I could have marked her sex, in addition to the only biological options of male or female, as a gender-neutral X. It’s the same insanity as when Team Biden felt like constructing a massive wall around the Capitol and conscripting 25,000 National Guard members to keep him safe. Are walls ok now? Are police ok? AOC should have demanded that the plaza be serviced by 25,000 social workers.
Fifth, where was this excitement when Sarah Palin was on a major party ticket? It doesn’t matter that Palin was painful to listen to and incompetent; she was a woman. I encourage everyone to revisit only SNL skits or pick up an archived New York Times to revisit the vile ridicule she endured. Selective enthusiasm rings as hollow as the selective outrage over the Capitol riots and silence or outright support of Black Lives Matter riots.
Sixth, it needs to be understood that Harris was placed on the ticket not because 1) she excited the base, or 2) she was qualified. Joe Biden announced he wanted a female of color. That’s it. Those were the two requirements when he filled the slot, and Harris must have been a default pick. Stacey Abrahms is a trainwreck who still thinks she’s the governor of Georgia and Susan Rice makes Harris look sympathetic. So, that left Harris, someone who dropped out of the primaries and even lost her own state of California in the effort.
Seventh, even conceding that this is a monumental day (firsts of anything usually are), who can honestly look at Harris and be excited she was the first woman to have this honor bestowed upon them. We have over 150 million women in this country and he opted for Harris? Really? If sleeping your way to the top, displaying utter contempt for half of this country, and running with someone who just a few months prior she herself accused of being a racist, at what point can we say: I wish we’d done better?
Eighth, it’s a bold choice to champion a woman who supports the murder of hundreds of thousands of unborn female fetuses each year. It’s safe to say she does not support all women. What women does she support, then; the lucky ones not murdered by unable, unwilling, or simply selfish parents? It’s safe to say she doesn’t support all of Trump supporting women, either. But yes, girl power. And unity. Don’t forget the unity.
Ninth, celebrating a woman for merely being a woman is disrespectful to capable women everywhere. Moreover, it’s absurd. When commercial aviation sought to rebrand itself as an inclusive profession in the 1980s, airlines went out of their way to hire and retain less qualified (and indeed, more dangerous) female pilots. This isn’t to say women can’t or shouldn’t be pilots. However, ask any passenger on a plane as it enters heavy turbulence or lands with 30 knot crosswinds if they cared about the sex of their pilot during the most extreme conditions. Every human being will be praying not that their captain has ovaries, but that their captain knows what they’re doing. Does anyone think for a second Kamala Harris, or any of her staff, would want or even allow less qualified pilots on Air Force One?
As my daughter goes through school, would I want her teachers to pass her because she is female? I can imagine sitting down at parent-teacher conferences and them telling me she can’t read but it’s ok because, since she’s a girl, she can do anything. Wouldn’t that be reassuring? Life will get really confusing as she heads off to college and her professors tell her that femininity is a patriarchal structure and that there is no such thing as a binary of men and women. Of course, since she still can’t read – but remember, it’s ok because she was a girl! – and only got to college based on false grades, her mind will morph into a pretzel.
Tenth, we need only revisit recent history to realize that any “wins” from the inauguration and swearing in of Kamala Harris will be short lived and soon forgotten. Consider the following two questions. How are race relations in America right now? What were people saying about the election (and reelection to a lesser extent) of Barack Obama as the country’s first black president? Barack Obama made race relations worse in this country by pandering to the black community and perpetuating the narrative that blacks are victims in this country. Yes, the first black president said blacks are victims in this country without a hint of irony. The Cambridge police incident, Trayvon Martin death, Ferguson riots, and quoting how racism is in this country’s DNA are just a few of the many disastrous choices Obama made.
Does anyone think this will end better for the relationships of the sexes? Kamala Harris plays the victim card. She sees herself as a victim. If her victim mentality extends to policy, why wouldn’t she want to get back at men? I only ask that if she goes after white men that she start with her husband. Yes, she hates white men and married one. Go figure.
When past presidents were elected, regardless of their political bent I always defaulted to a position of hoping for their success. A successful president meant a successful nation. I no longer feel that way. If Kamala Harris is successful in executing her visions, this nation is doomed. I rue for the young girls everywhere, my daughter included, that will both have to put up with endless lies about female empowerment as well as grow up in a less free and tolerant world.
Kamala Harris might be my elected representative, but she represents nothing in the way my daughter will be raised.
By: Parker Beauregard. This article originally appeared on Blue State Conservative
